The economist should stick with what it knows ... economic issues. it has no idea of political issues ... read this comment from the article: "The blockade of Gaza is cruel and has failed. The Gazans have suffered sorely but have not been starved into submission. Hamas has not been throttled and overthrown, as Israeli governments (and many others) have wished. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier taken hostage, has not been freed. Weapons and missiles can still be smuggled in through tunnels from Egypt. " ... just flip the switch and compare british policy to northen ireland's catholics with the israel's treatment of the palestinians. isolation of the IRA and political cathoics combined with the curtailment of any economic aid whatsoever (as well as political, social and military controls) was how Britian dealt with the northen ireland question for some 100 years. Did britain ever negotiate with a terrorist controlled government? How was the conflict eventually resolved? Was britain vilified for years. So come on ... turkey has to deal with its islamic radicals and they have learnt from europe. there is nothing like some good old fashioned anti-sematism to divert attention from home grown rot and corruption.

No One in Israel will act like a "Macho". Jews are trying to survive. Jews will not play games : Not the "Macho Game", and not the "Weakling Victim Game". The Jewish Nation is a Thinking Nation, Scientific, Philosofical. Jews will calculate, analyze, disect every piece of data and information before taking any decision. Jews will always try to reach top executions. Jews never shoot from the hip, and say sorry later. It is not the "Jewish Way of Behaving". It is true that Jews have badly mis-calculated in the Past. Jews failed to understand the twin evils of the Nazi Parties in Europe, and the Communist Organizations in Europe.
In my opinion, The Jewish State will never miscalculate again. Please note that the "Macho" stigma was originally created by American Cinema Producers. This "Macho" stigma was originally, attached to "Idiotic Mexican Rebels and Bandito's". Other stigmas that were attached to "Despicable Mexicans" in the American Western Movies were : " Juanita Banana" and "Speedy Gonzales". These American Narratives had nothing to do with the way Jews were pictured in Hollywood scripts. To call Jews " Macho" is really missing the mark by Light Years. Sorry, but the Economist did not do its research very well. Please try harder next time !

The article implies that Israel becoming weaker is a negative thing. Israel is doing its best to maintain itself as a Jewish-only state and the methods it employs are perfectly rational if that is its objective. It is time that we start to discuss how Israel can be transformed into a secular state for all the Palestinians and Israelis living there.

Israel under Benjamin Netanyahu does seem to have bidden good bye to all the accepted norms of international behaviour by trying to bully it's Arab neighbours, and unilaterally seeking solution to it's self-created problems through force, as to be seen in it's unprovoked naval attack on the Gaza bound humanitarian aid flotilla, an incessant settlement drive in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, blockade of Gaza and showing no inclination to resume peace talks with the Palestinians, denying them their legitimate right to an independent Palestinian state. Such a hard policy pursuit by Israel has not only isolated it from it's Arab neighbours and even international community, but also fueled violent militancy among the Arab Muslims, making the task of mediating peace in the Middle East much more difficult for the US and other global players. It appears that Benjamin Netanyahu, ignoring the domestic mainstream opinion, international persuasion and even the US calls for caution, is well on a self-destructive path with serious ramifications for the region and beyond.

it is wrong to see this as a regional arab israelie problem any more. turkey is ready to take its rightful position as the power in the region. turkey will eventually take over and run gaza as the next region after cyprus.we could be back to the 19th century setup. no more kingdoms and emirates but a proper power to challenge other super powers. israel can stay there as a community but not a state. you can not be a state with 8 million people, you can only be a region of no importance. well, time will show

The missing piece to every solution proposed in this article, as well as much of the debate, is the theological mandate that Hamas sees in the Quran for the elimination of a Jewish and/or non-Muslim state in the Dar-al-Islam...the House of Islam is supposed to be ever expanding, and the fact that they lost a chunk of prime territory in the heart of the heartland is seen as a rebuke to the authority of Allah. It's his honor they are fighting for - so how quickly do you think they'll be willing to give up that fight and make peace with a mortal enemy they refer to as 'pigs'? Fatah did it and they're seen as the compromised fools, as opposed to the 'true believers'. The UN will bend to anything to feign outrage at Israel, would not be an honest broker in the south of Israel, any more than they have been with the south of Lebenon and their coddling of Hezbollah. The truth is that Israel IS under siege. No one will guarantee their safety in a region that is pounding on their door with weapons in their hands, and the 2 state 'solution' is no more an answer to the Palestinian problem than the total withdrawal from Gaza was - it just gave unfettered access to the Hamas and created a failed mini-state on their border for terrorists to operate and abuse.

Hamas is holding the Palestinians hostage - they have no regard for their own people and it's utterly irresponsible for the world to point to Israel as the aggressor when they are bombed daily by missiles from the strip. The blockade would be over if they didn't have to build bomb shelters in their elementary schools - it's a warzone, folks.

@Tinelva
you forgot to mention the Jews will use their nukes if it really hits the fan. Modern siege's don't work, clearly your grasp of history is weak. Your belief that hammering the Gazan population will produce results is wrong. Jihadist rockets still get fired into Israel, from Gaza, don't they! The Security Council should partition Israel and be done with it

What had been a utopian ideal has turned into just another nasty, over-militarized nation state. One that won't sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and has stationed three nuclear armed submarines off the coast of Iran.

Israel is out of control. Its leadership are a bunch of midgets, not at all in the same league as giants like David Ben Gurion. No nation has ever achieved peace through the forceable disarmament of its neighbors. Not even Germany was completely disarmed after the two world wars.

Your obvious exasperation and passion for defending all of Israel's actions is nothing but sympotomatic of the evident mistakes of the country. If Israel were right on that kind of behavior you would't be here as an extremist trying to justify an inexcusable wrong-doing.
The article, from my view, it's fair minded and very fortunate, truly giving light on the situation.

The botomline is that israel rejects the two possible solutions of this conflict:

1. Two-state solution. All Arab and Muslim countries offered to recognize israel and start "normal" political and economic relations in exchange of independent Palestine within 1967 borders.

This offer was not easy to agree on for Muslims and it is the best deal israel can get. Moreover, some further concessions from the Arab/Muslim side would be possible. However, israel simply rejected this offer.

2. One state for all. The same way Russians leave with Muslims whom they conquered. The same way Chinese live with Uyghurs whom they conquered. The same way Americans and Canadians live with the Native Americans whom they conquered.

Many people doubted that the South African whites and blacks would be able to live as equal citizens. Yet, South Africa is one of the best countries in the world.

Such behavior of israel (rejection of both possible solutions), makes Muslims believe that israel can only be forced into peace.

Absolute majority of Muslims do not want to anihilate Jews. We could do that during the 1400 years, but we did not. The European Nazis are responsible for the Holocaust. It were Muslim Turks who welcomed Jews deported by Spanish Catholics in 1490s.

There are almost 2 billion Muslims in the world and our countries are getting powerful every day. The door for peace is about to close for israel. She has no allies in the Muslim world anymore.

It is only psychology that stands in the way of peace. Insular, circular thinking keeps the hard liners entrenched on both sides.

As a separate point of information, why do we always refer to an "American-Israeli Alliance"? What alliance? To me, an alliance holds entities in a pact of mutual assistance. But what exactly has Israel ever done for America? Do they send us money? Technology? Do they send soldiers in our support? No. Never. Nothing. We send them money, they steal our secrets, and they behave badly and get us into trouble. They are to us what North Korea is to China. They need a good spanking, or be cut loose. Today in Tel Aviv we have no allies, only liabilities.

"The blockade of Gaza is cruel and has failed. The Gazans have suffered sorely but have not been starved into submission."

Perhaps the author doesn't realize the blockade's goal isn't to starve Gaza into submission? I mean if the Israelies really wanted to starve them why would they let food and basic aid across the border? allthough it is the bare minimum to sustain Gaza, it is obvioius the Israelies never had intention of starving the Gazans to death. While there is a lack of other goods that makes life more comfortable that is being blocked by Israel.

However, from inference from the article, the blockade is all Israel's fault. Perhaps a more balanced approach that shows both sides at fault?

If Hamas really cared about Palestinians, why smuggle in rockets to be shot into Israel intead of food for the people? Either way they are throwing money away...

It is obvious from Hamas' actions they could care less about suffering of the average person and wishes the destruction of Israel. And Israel is very intent on destroying Hamas with little regard to who gets in the way.

I am still awaiting a non-biased account of the incident at sea, from people who have nothing to profit from possibly lying or hiding facts.

@Ohio
I understand your exasperation with the situation.
However keep in mind that walking away (and abandoning your allies in the process) will not help - the Islamic terrorists will simply find it easier to hit you at home, just like in 9/11.

To defend Western values and way of life, a passive isolationist approach would not be a wise startegy (just like for Chamberlain in 1938).

A pox on both their houses. The most dramatic thing that the US could do would be to walk away. Eliminate all subisidies to Israel and Arab states (except the one we occupy), discontinue all participation in peace talks, and tell them to give us a call when they have a solution and they need help with implementation. Israel was once seen as a beacon of democracy and liberalism amidst despotic Arab regimes. Well, the Arab regimes haven't improved, but I find it increasingly difficult to defend Israel. It's time that the world understood that all the US needs out of the middle east is decent commercial relations with those that sell us oil. If the various parties want to continue their common nightmare, then go at it. Leave us out of it. We're sick of the drama, the bloodshed, and the hatred. Trying to stop one crowd of zealots from killing another crowd of zealots just isn't worth it. There are no good guys, only bad guys. They can all go to hell.

Your baseless accusations are ridiculous.
Israel would have no motive to "fire live bullets", while Turkish thugs had plenty of motive to start a violent clash.
And more importantly - how come no-one on the other 5 boats got hurt?
You will probably say that the Israelis fired on them too and missed...

I know you will grasp at any absurd excuse within a 10 mile radius to vilify Israel, but I'm sure you can do better.